


knife ear, dagger tongue, iron will.

by foundCarcosa



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-20
Updated: 2013-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-29 23:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/692565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foundCarcosa/pseuds/foundCarcosa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zevran learns how Sula Tabris became the warrior she is. Later, all Ferelden learns how enduring an elf's love for her people can be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	knife ear, dagger tongue, iron will.

From the moment they stepped foot in the bustling city, Sula drew up and in, her mouth tightening, her brows cranking down over eyes that were more like walls than windows.  
She spit when she passed the Chantry. She bristled every time she made eye contact with _shem_. She snapped at Alistair when he dallied at shops, scowled balefully at Wynne when the woman tried to ask what was wrong, and shoved Zevran away when he placed a quelling hand at the small of her back.

"I am no _shem_ , Sula mine," he reminded her, quietly, but she turned away, her skin ruddy with a furious flush.

In the Alienage, her mood worsens. Zevran watches with an attention to detail that only assassins and lovers can master -- watches the hesitant way her father approaches, the veils that drop over the eyes of the other elves when they catch her eye, the fidgeting and the darting looks.

They don't know how to speak to her anymore. They don't see one of theirs when they see her. A stranger in her own home, a stranger amongst her own people.

Zevran thinks he understands, until he meets Shianni.

Her eyes are as vividly fiery as her hair, her arms sinewy and her tongue sharp. She and Sula could have been sisters, and love flares in his breast for her, love much different from that which he felt for Sula, but love nevertheless.  
She pegs him with a hard look, refusing to treat him any differently than she treated Alistair, _warning_ him.  
 _If you think you're the only one who loves Sula... if you think you're the only one who wishes to protect her..._

He makes the mistake of assuming he understands, and a tight-lipped Shianni takes him by the elbow, hard, and steers him into her home.

"They are _upset_ with her," she whispers fiercely, veins popping to life in her arms as she clenches her fist. Zevran opens and closes his mouth, stunned. "You hear me? They _hate_ her for what she did to that noble's son. These are victims, not survivors. _Victims._ "

"I don't understand," Zevran admits, feeling his composure slipping, his fingers twitching as if they would close around a dagger's hilt. _What has Ferelden done to them?_

"I always thought I was strong." Shianni's words come quick and hot now, her jaw flexing, her eyes flaring. "I was the one who pushed Sula behind me whenever _shem_ came around, who... who stared defiantly in their faces and dared them to do what I knew they were capable of doing... but Sula is the one who saved us. _She_ fought Bann Vaughan. _She_ killed Bann Vaughan.   
And she may have brought more suffering upon our heads as a result, yes, but she fought back! She did not let herself become a victim! She is the spirit of the Dales, Zevran Arainai, the spirit of old Arlathan, and there is no place for that spirit here!"

Zevran nods wordlessly, hoping the fervour he feels is translated in his gaze. Shianni's lip trembles now, and she bites it savagely, but the tears stand in her eyes, quivering, waiting to fall.

"Sula will save us all, and they won't even appreciate it."

When Sula tosses the door open, Zevran looks up at her from over Shianni's shoulder, his arms tight around the small woman, and she would have spat vitriol at him for his indiscretion if his eyes hadn't... looked like _that_.

\--

"You didn't tell me."  
He doesn't sound accusatory. Shianni had finally stopped weeping, casting a defiant look at the both of them as she wiped her eyes, and left them be. Sula and Zevran faced off for a tense moment before he finally spoke.  
He doesn't sound accusatory, but Sula bristles nevertheless.

"What, that some noble with his blood up dragged me and Shianni into his place for a little fun, and I gave him a taste of my blade instead? What kind of bedtime story is that?"

He has no response for this, so he closes his mouth, lowers his eyes.

"The Landsmeet is in a couple of days, Zevran. I'm going to have to curry support from people that want me dead. I'm going to have to stand in front of a man that is _just like Vaughan_ and attempt to force him out of his seat.  
I'm surrounded by people that hate me, and I don't care. _I don't care._ I will do what I must, no matter how they look at me, because it must be done. I am not a victim, I am not afraid, and _it must be done._ "

He glances up to see if her eyes speak differently, but they do not.  
"Loghain does not stand a chance against you," he murmurs, trying to be reassuring, realising that he is nothing in the face of this reality, this life that is hers and hers alone. And maybe she sees this, because she clenches her jaw and takes his hands and squeezes them hard and holds his gaze.

"No one stands a chance against me," she whispers in return, and Zevran's heart swells until his chest aches.

\--

Warden-Commander Sula Tabris asks one thing and one thing only from King Alistair Theirin, and when she asks it of him, her eyes hold his gaze. _I trust you, Theirin. Do not cross me._

When Shianni receives the message -- written on crisp vellum with vibrant black ink, sealed with rich wax bearing the royal seal -- she claps her hand to her mouth and closes her eyes so tight the tears barely squeeze out.  
 _"There is no_ shem _allowed to control you now. I have made sure of this. But they will still try, because that is what is in the heart of_ shem. _So take care of them, Shianni. Teach the children to be warriors. Teach the elders to be warriors. And teach them to love each other so fiercely that they will never be divided. Do this thing for me, Shianni, my cousin, my heart. Because that is what is in the heart of you."_

"Despite what this proclamation says, this isn't my Alienage," she declares later, in front of the gathered elves. "It is Sula's. It will always be Sula's. And don't you ever forget it."


End file.
